A starter guide to planning a school climate camp

1. Start with a local question

Choose a question students can observe or investigate: How does rain affect our route to school? Where does the waste from our classroom go? What changes in local weather do people notice across seasons? Avoid beginning with too many concepts at once.

2. Set learning outcomes

• Students can explain one climate or environmental concept in their own words.
• Students can connect that concept to an example from their surroundings.
• Students can identify one realistic action, investigation, or question to take forward.

3. Mix formats

• Short input: Introduce a concept with a simple visual or demonstration.
• Observation: Ask learners to notice, map, sort, compare, or record something.
• Small-group discussion: Invite different experiences and explanations.
• Make or plan: Have groups create a model, poster, local map, or action proposal.
• Reflection: Ask what changed in their understanding and what they still want to know.

4. Make participation meaningful

Give students real choices where possible. Let them select a local issue, decide how to present what they learned, or propose a follow-up activity. Make sure every activity has accessible ways to participate, including for students who are less comfortable speaking in a large group.

5. Plan the follow-up before the camp

Choose one simple follow-up: a classroom discussion, a student journal entry, a school observation, a display, or a check-in after a few weeks. Decide who will support it and what evidence will show whether it happened.

6. Document responsibly

Record the agenda, learning themes, activities completed, participant feedback, and next steps. Use photographs only with appropriate permission, especially when students are identifiable. Keep attendance, outputs, and learning outcomes separate; they measure different things.

Facilitator’s closing checklist

• Is the local question clear?
• Are the learning outcomes realistic?
• Do students get to do something, not only listen?
• Are materials and access needs planned?
• Is there time for reflection?
• Is a follow-up owner and date identified?
• Do we know what evidence we will collect—and what we will not claim without evidence?

Prepared as a practical starter framework informed by climate education programme experience. It should be adapted and reviewed before use in a specific school or community.